1I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2He seized the dragon, the old serpent, who is the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited earth, and bound him for a thousand years, 3and cast him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years were finished. After this, he must be freed for a short time.
4I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and such as didn’t worship the beast nor his image, and didn’t receive the mark on their forehead and on their hand. They lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5The rest of the dead didn’t live until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over these, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with him one thousand years.
7And after the thousand years, Satan will be released from his prison 8and he will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war, whose number is as the sand of the sea. 9They went up over the width of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. Fire came down out of heaven from God and devoured them. 10The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are also. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
11I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them. 12I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. They were judged, each one according to his works. 14Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.
Satan was bound and cast into the abyss for a thousand years. The elements of this part of the vision begin with an unnamed angel coming to Earth from Heaven. The abyss seen here is the same one locust-like creatures came out of in Chapter 9. It is the prison house of demons. The angel with the key in Chapter 9 was named. This angel is not. Since angels are spirit beings, the chain should be understood as symbolic rather than literal. The point is that by whatever works on spirit beings, Satan will be captured and bound by this powerful angel.
The multiple epithets make clear that Satan himself is captured and bound. The length of his sentence is given as a thousand years. Many interpreters see this as symbolic language, along with the other elements of the vision. Rather than understanding that Satan will be bound a thousand literal years, some take it to mean the church age or an indefinite time. Premillennialists and Dispensationalists, on the other hand, understand this to be a literal thousand years. The number “thousand” is not used figuratively anywhere else in Scripture. Satan is not presently bound or imprisoned, but active on the planet (1 Pet 5:8). The thousand years will entail the time of Christ’s Messianic rule over all the earth.
Satan’s restriction will deny him access to the nations and their people. He will be released after the thousand years and deceive people once more, but only for a short time. How long the “short time” will be is not given.